Seat-belts, Optional
by nhannah
Summary: Devastated after a broken relationship and burdened with the knowledge that she will never bear a child, Haruno Sakura decides to dedicate herself to becoming a tool for her nation; the strongest weapon Konoha has ever produced. Unfortunately, to do this she has to go through the Hokage first, and the Hokage has different plans. [KakaxSaku]
1. Chapter 1

**Devastated after a broken relationship and burdened with the knowledge that she will never bear a child, Haruno Sakura decides to dedicate herself to becoming a tool for her nation; the strongest weapon Konoha has ever produced. Unfortunately, to do this she has to go through the Hokage first. [KakaxSaku]**

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Chapter 1

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Not for the first time that morning, Haruno Sakura caught herself grinning and humming to an invisible tune in her head as two of the nurses present with her in the operation room where she was doing open-heart surgery eyed her with skeptical looks.

"Ne, Sakura-sama, is everything alright? You seem particularly happy today," one of the nurses, a normally meek 16-year-old with a knack of receiving the nasty end to Sakura's rather unpredictable mood swings, queried.

"Oh, no, don't mind me, Ayame-chan," Sakura cooed as she removed the gloves from her hands and tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "I guess it's just… the effects of the weather."

Of course, Sakura knew she was lying as she said this, some secret mirth causing the corners of her lips to lift knowingly as she called it a day and signed the medical report that was handed to her with a flourish.

Seven years since the war had ended and four years since she and Sasuke had officially begun seeing each other as something more than just teammates, today was the first time Sasuke had ever made the first move.

"We'll meet at Madam Kuro's at 8pm," he had said earlier, when he dropped by unexpectedly at the hospital where Sakura worked just to relay the information. "I'll see you there." He wrapped the statement up with a tentative kiss to her forehead and fingers that lingered ever so slightly on her cheek.

The whole moment had caused Sakura to freeze, heart fluttering wildly against her chest and ears as pink as her hair.

It was no secret that Sasuke and Sakura had been seeing each other. She had loved him for years, after all, and it came as no surprise to anyone when Sakura had gladly welcomed him back into her life despite all his misgivings. They had started meeting each other without the presence of the rest of Team 7 four years ago, three years after Sasuke had completed his probation period.

At first, it was just Sakura who instituted the relationship, with Sasuke merely listening to her exaggerated stories with an expression less disinterested than usual. Sakura would talk or ask questions or suggest new places for them to hang out and, silently, without a word of protest, Sasuke would respond or let her drag him to wherever she wanted to go.

Four years down the road of their relationship and not much had changed.

All around her, friends and casual acquaintances alike were announcing their engagements or conveying their decision to move in with their other half – even Ino, who had finally stopped rejecting Inuzuka Kiba's varying attempts at courting her six months ago, had just conveyed the news a couple of days back that she had brought Kiba to meet her parents.

All this while Sakura still had trouble getting Sasuke to open up about how he really felt about her.

"You're moving too slow, Forehead," Ino had told her one fine day, two and a half years into Sakura's relationship. "You guys have been seeing each other for, what, almost three years now? Shouldn't you guys at least ATTEMPT to bring the relationship to the next level? Even that idiot Naruto's met Hinata's parents, hasn't Sasuke even considered marriage?"

"We're doing just fine, Ino," Sakura had confidently replied despite the nagging voice at the back of her head that had agreed with Ino's point. "You know how Sasuke is, he's still trying to get used to life as a Konoha citizen again. I'm happy to take it slow with him. Besides, I don't think it even matters if we get married."

Ino had graced Sakura's answer with a mere quirk of the eyebrow and even then, without having to listen to Ino nag on about it, Sakura knew she was kidding herself – becoming a good kunoichi and getting married were two of Sakura's most important dreams growing up. Granted, becoming a good kunoichi often took a backseat to the latter dream throughout the most part of her ignorant adolescence, but they were important dreams nonetheless.

Now a successful 23-year-old kunoichi and the strongest medic nin that Konoha ever produced, if Sakura were to be perfectly honest with herself, the fact that there seemed to be no progress in her relationship with Sasuke was beginning to get on her nerves.

Yes, she loved Sasuke with all her heart and, no, she was by no means going to push him into doing something he didn't want on his own terms, but that didn't mean, deep down, she didn't still have some frail hope that Sasuke would one day turn around and give to her the, "I devote my life to you," speech.

Sakura wasn't going to lie to herself – it hurt seeing Kiba surprise Ino on random occasions and nuzzle his head against her neck affectionately while the most emotion she had ever seen from Sasuke was when he was glaring down an enemy in the battlefield.

Sasuke never held hands with her on his own account, never organized a surprise date for her, and certainly never nuzzled.

"_But all that's gonna change now,"_ said a small, obscure voice in Sakura's head resolutely as Sakura leafed through a couple of unfinished paper work and scribbled some inconspicuous notes into several of them. _"Today Sasuke was the one who made the first move and Sasuke was the one who planned to meet me at Madam Kuro's at 8pm, the finest and most exclusive restaurants of Konoha – this definitely means something."_

Sakura couldn't help but to smile at the thought of meeting Sasuke tonight, the glee of anticipation bringing a healthy blush to her cheeks.

"_Yes, that's right. Ino, eat your heart out, because Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke are finally taking their relationship to the next level!"_ the inner voice in Sakura's head proceeded to exclaim. _"Hmm… I wonder what would be the right outfit to wear?"_

As Sakura's eyes glazed over the paperwork, mentally running through the two or three new dresses she had yet to try on, a knock suddenly sounded on the door.

Coughing abruptly, Sakura raised herself from her seat behind her desk to call out, "Come in."

The door opened slowly, revealing the slightly flustered face of the nurse, Ayame. "Sakura-sama, the Hokage would like to see you for his personal check up."

Sakura's smile slid off her face as she eyeballed her nurse dejectedly. "Can't it wait? It's almost 7pm and my shift was over thirty minutes-,"

"Ohayou!"

Sakura groaned, having expected this.

"Nice to meet you, too, my beloved student-san," said the voice of none other than her ex-sensei and current head of Konoha, Hatake Kakashi, as he crouched comfortably in the middle of her office desk, eyes squinted in an obligatory friendly nature.

"Fine," huffed Sakura at last, rubbing a finger to the swell in her temples. "Ayame, you are free to go. I'll give this idiot a quick check up before I leave."

Ayame scurried out of the office, door shutting briskly behind her, as Sakura's attention swiveled over to the 30-something-year old man resting comfortably on her desk as if he could be there all day.

"I believe I recall telling you we'd have your check up four hours ago?" said Sakura tersely, all trace of giddiness gone. "Why, pray tell, did you decide to drop by my office at 7pm when you know I'll be off duty by now?"

Kakashi's hand rose to an invisible scratch at the top of his head as he graced Sakura with a sheepish chuckle. "Oh, Sakura, you know I would have come straight to you if it wasn't for my current schedule," he replied calmly, taking particular amusement in the way his ex-student's nostrils flared as she eyed how his muddy shoes were staining her immaculate tabletop. "Besides, I knew you'd be here to fix me up regardless, ne, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura huffed, arms to her hips in typical irritated-female fashion. "You know, there's more to me than this hospital," she said grumpily, hands automatically fastening around Kakashi's wrists as she gently pried him off her table and down onto a stool. "Unlike you, I actually have a life."

"Oh, you're so very cruel to this old man, Sakura-chan," said Kakashi, hand clasping to his chest for dramatic effect.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Shut up and strip already," she snapped.

In hindsight, it was actually rather comedic how Kakashi's usually droopy eyes suddenly bugged, cheeks heating up in the barest sign of a blush as his typically sharp mind processed Sakura's order. At the time being however, 15 minutes past seven and with only 45 minutes left to rush home and dress up for tonight's date with Sasuke, Sakura took no pleasure in seeing her ex-sensei squirm.

"Just take your vest and top off, already. I need to conduct the medical exam, geez."

Kakashi laughed sheepishly, extending his arms above his head as Sakura tsked and unbuttoned his vest for him.

"Okay, now, take a deep breath," said Sakura as she pressed her hands to his chest.

Kakashi breathed. For a couple of minutes, the room was completely still and quiet; the only sound coming from Kakashi's rhythmic breathing.

Closing his eyes, the Hokage of Konoha allowed Sakura's warm, gentle chakra to flood into him and merge with his own chakra system. Although he would never admit it out loud, he always enjoyed the sensation of Sakura's chakra prodding his own – an admission he would have never come to with anyone else, medic nin and regular nin alike. Sakura's chakra was unlike any other; it wasn't offensive or even docile; it was inviting, calm, generous, but with the promise of a fight, if need be, much like its wielder.

After about twenty minutes, Sakura finally released her hands from Kakashi's chest, cutting the connection.

"Okay, looks to me like you're all good," she said briskly, eyes soft despite her attempt to fix him with an irritated expression. "Now, please, if you don't mind, I've got a date to attend."

"Aah, no wonder the rush," said Kakashi, rising to his feet and putting his shirt back on. "If I had known, I would not have come today. Thank you for your time, Sakura-chan. I hope you have a good time on your date. If you're ever up for some good ole' fashioned quality time with this old man, I'll be around the bar, having a drink by my lonesome. Ja~"

With that, Kakashi disappeared, leaving Sakura frowning and alone in the middle of an empty office.

Glancing at the clock on her desk, she suddenly broke herself out of her reverie and cursed, "Shit, I'm late!"

* * *

><p>"You're late," said Sasuke when Sakura finally arrived at the entrance of Madam Kuro's.<p>

Sakura grinned sheepishly, fingers automatically reaching for security in the tresses of her now shoulder-length pink hair. "I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun," she said delicately. "At least the good news is I look okay…?"

Despite knowing in advance that she was just fishing for a compliment that would never happen, Sakura couldn't help but have to swallow back the swell of dejection she felt as Sasuke merely turned away from her and wordlessly stalked into the restaurant. "Come. I've made reservations. Hopefully they haven't given our table away due to your tardiness."

Sakura sighed, slumping in.

As it turned out, the restaurant did give the table away due to Sakura's tardiness, but thanks to a flash of red from Sasuke's otherwise ebony-coloured eyes, the waitress nervously stepped out of the way and called management in to empty out an even more posh table.

"We will have the white wine and your house specialty," Sasuke ordered once they were seated. "Sakura, would you like to make any other requests?"

Sakura eep'd, having, for the first time, been acknowledged with such a question from Sasuke throughout their whole 4 years of history together. "Err, no thank you, Sasuke-kun," she replied politely. "I'll just have whatever you're having."

Sasuke nodded and the waitress left.

"So…" said Sakura when the silence was too much to bear. "This place is very… nice. Was it very hard to get reservations, Sasuke-kun?"

"No," replied Sasuke briefly, eyes just as disinterested as they usually were on one of their weekly outings at Ichiraku Ramen.

Sasuke sighed, knowing her attempt at mindless conversation would go nowhere with her highly pragmatic boyfriend.

"Sasuke… is there any particular reason why you invited me here tonight?" she quipped at last, daring to meet Sasuke's obsidian eyes with her own. "You… seem tense."

This observation was no lie; Sakura had noticed the build-up in Sasuke's back and shoulders since she arrived at the entrance of the restaurant a couple of moments ago. At first, she chalked it up to Sasuke just being irritated with her tardiness and the possibility that their reservation would be taken, but, now, seated in a significantly better table overlooking the city skyline, it was highly improbable that Sasuke's tense demeanor had anything to do with her tardiness.

"Sakura," he said at last, after the oddest few minutes of staring blankly at her face. "We have been going out for four years now…"

"_Oh my God,"_ screeched inner-Sakura, doing backflips and somersaults in the deepest recesses of her mind. _"Don't tell me…"_

"Most people would say our development as a… couple… has been slow," Sasuke continued, as inner-Sakura proceeded to fangirl with increasing tenacity. "Within this time… we have been having sexual intercourse approximately 576 times now."

Inner-Sakura halted mid-leap, leaving real time Sakura just as speechless and shell-shocked as she was. A part of Sakura was getting red over the fact that Sasuke had mentioned sex over dinner whereas the other part of Sakura was just at a loss for words over the fact that Sasuke had actually counted.

"_Maybe we should just… hear him out," _said inner-Sakura, a little off-balanced about where Sasuke was going with the conversation.

"Sakura, all I'm trying to say is that… throughout these four years and 576 times we've had sexual intercourse together… are you not yet pregnant?"

It was as if the wheels of some other-worldly vehicle had screeched to a halt. Sakura's heart stopped pounding a mile a minute as she took the few seconds of open mouth-gaping she had been doing to try and comprehend what Sasuke was trying to say to her.

"Sasuke… are you saying that… all this while, you were waiting for me to get pregnant?"

The impossibility of the night turned worst as Sasuke squirmed in his seat. "Sakura," he said after a while. "You know my plan… I've told you before that I am dedicated to repopulate the Uchiha clan once again."

Sakura nearly fell over in her seat, but was thankfully saved by the waiter who placed some rather expensive looking food on the plate in front of her. "Please enjoy our house specialty! Might I say you two look amazing together, Mr. Uchiha-sama and Miss Haruno-sama," said the waiter happily, completely and blissfully oblivious as to the going-ons of the two persons in front of him.

"Thank you," Sakura was mindful to say to the enthusiastic waiter before turning over to Sasuke and practically hissing at him, "Don't tell me that all this while, all you've wanted was for me to have your babies!"

Sasuke had the gall to look genuinely certain as he nodded. "Of course, why else would I be in this relationship with you?"

Sakura's hand shook as she snapped, "I don't know, maybe because you actually LOVE and CARE about me?!"

If Sakura had ever complained about not getting a reaction out of Sasuke, she was certainly getting one now. Sasuke's already dark eyes darkened ever so slightly as he fixed Sakura with an eerily calm look. "Love and care have nothing to do with this relationship, Sakura," he said softly, face strangely pale. "I require a maternal figure for my future off springs, and you have shown dedication to me and my purpose… I am asking you again… are you not yet pregnant?"

There was an edge to that question which hinted at Sasuke's disapproval of a wrong answer.

Sakura swallowed, knowing the truth that, long ago, she had discovered herself to be completely unable to bear off-spring – this being a result of her commitment to her byakugou seal and strength of a hundred technique.

"Sasuke," she said at last, her voice suddenly soft. "There is something I've been meaning to tell you, but I didn't think it was important until today because you never showed interest in furthering our relationship…"

Sasuke was deathly silent as he observed the pink-haired ninja, eyes glistening with the promise of unshed tears as she tore her eyes away from his own and focused on the hem of her sleeve instead.

"I am not able to get pregnant."

Sasuke's eyes closed, the invisible weight on his shoulders feeling heavier than ever.

"I thought so," he muttered after a while. "You never showed interest in protection when we slept together, and your chakra never showed signs of carrying another…"

The unshed tears that lingered in Sakura's eyes now manifested into real tears that glistened and trailed down Sakura's cheeks. "If you knew all this while, why didn't you end this relationship?"

Sasuke's sigh was not exaggerated as he clenched and unclenched his hands on the tabletop in front of him. "I had… hope… that things would change," he said softly. "I know it was selfish of me, but I wanted to believe that somehow we could defeat the odds and that you would carry my offspring."

"And when I didn't?"

It was Sasuke's turn to look away, his expression unchanging albeit for a slight softening of his eyes. "I knew I had to break it off," he finally said. "I couldn't keep stringing you along forever, not when I know you will never bear the Uchiha lineage…"

Sasuke couldn't bring himself to look up as Sakura's tears turned into muffled sniffs and the occasional soft hiccup.

"I'm sorry, Sakura…" added the Uchiha, unable to meet her devastated gaze. "But if it helps... I... I really did start to care for you."

It didn't help. In fact, knowing that Sasuke cared for her hurt even worst.

* * *

><p>AN: Please review, it motivates me to write :)<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

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Chapter 2

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It had been two weeks since Sakura declined Sasuke's offer to walk her home from Madam Kuro's only to walk, face-down, along the dark, wet streets of Konoha alone. Since then, Sakura had taken all her days off; choosing instead to burry herself in the shell of her small, one-bedroom apartment.

In the darkness of her bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, Sakura came to the realization that she would never love again.

Sasuke was her one and only love.

He had caught her attention since they were little children back in the academy—his mischievous smile and dark, brooding eyes would keep her planted in the academy yard for hours, just staring at him as he surpassed his peers in every league and skill imaginable.

Time and age was no cause for her love to waver either. Despite the odds and the heartache, Sakura always remained devoted in her love for Sasuke—believing there to be a part of him that would one day accept and acknowledge her, as had always been her dream.

Today, 23 years old and a mere shell of her former rambunctious self, Sakura has finally gotten that acknowledgment she always yearned for – but it sure as hell didn't feel as good as she thought it would be.

Groaning, Sakura rolled over from her position in the bed, seafoam eyes shifting from the bareness of her ceiling to the cold, dark sky outside.

The thought of living without Sasuke was unbearable. He was the centre of most her life, after all, so it hardly made sense to just shrug all those years of dedication and hard work she put into getting his attention because of one bad meeting. But, then again…

Sakura grazed her fingers over her flat stomach, feeling her throat constrain as the weight of Sasuke's words fell upon her like an invisible, yet all too real, weight.

"Ohaiyou!"

Sakura screeched, jumping minutely from where she previously lay and immediately falling into a defensive stance as the pinpointed the source of the unexpected voice.

"Ne, Sakura-chan, so fierce," said Kakashi jokingly as he dodged a swipe of Sakura's kunai.

"You shouldn't be dropping by at this hour," was Sakura's grumpy reply as she refastened her remaining weapons into their holster and sat back down in her bed. "It'll send the wrong message to people."

"Like the fact that your ex-sensei is just dropping by to check on his favourite student?"

Sakura snorted. "More like the fact that you're an old man climbing into a 23-year-old girl's bedroom," she replied. "Besides, I'm not your favourite."

Kakashi's reaction was to blink stupidly at her before pulling out a seat from underneath her desk and sitting on it backwards. "I went by the hospital to get my check up earlier," he said smoothly, not skipping a beat. "Funny, the staff said that you haven't been at work for nearly two weeks now."

Sakura sighed. Kakashi could be a real pain when he wanted to. "So I took a few days off," she said, eyes rolling. "Big deal. Everyone deserves a paid vacation and I haven't used up any of mine since I became head medic – why is that even a problem to you?"

"I didn't say it was a problem," said Kakashi calmly, despite the obvious pitch in Sakura's voice and the foresight that he was stepping into dangerous territory. "But it certainly isn't like you."

"UGH! This again?" growled Sakura, now agitated enough to rise to her feet and approach the irritating man. "I've told you already, there's MORE to me than the hospital. Why do you INSIST on keeping me there? I have a life!"

"It's a very curious way of living," hummed Kakashi in response, glancing around at how pathetically dark and unkempt the room was.

"Just stop it," snapped Sakura. "You may be the Hokage now and I may be your dedicated medic during work hours, but it's no longer work hours. Just tell me what you need so I can kick you out sooner."

The traces of a smile behind his mask were unmistakable – Kakashi was clearly getting some sort of sick pleasure riling her up like this.

"Kakashi…" Sakura growled when the Hokage failed to answer.

Instead of answering, Kakashi merely stood up, dusted his pants off invisible dust, and approached Sakura; for the longest time merely staring at her with droopy, black eyes masked in the shadows of the night.

"Kakashi?" Sakura repeated uncertainly, wiped clean of all signs of anger.

Kakashi's hand landed on the top of her head, ruffling her hair affectionately. "Take care of yourself, Sakura," he said softly, the traces of a smile still evident behind that ridiculous mask he insisted on wearing. "There's more to life than just Sasuke."

Before Sakura had a chance to properly comprehend what Kakashi meant by such a statement, he had gone; leaving behind a soft cloud of smoke as he disappeared into thin air.

Staring at the empty space in front of her for a few blank, motionless seconds, the pink-haired medic nin finally sighed, falling back into bed as if she was suffering an even worst headache then before.

As minutes stretched into hours and time crept ever by, Sakura's restless mind found peace and, as it succumbed to sleep, decided that her ex-sensei simply didn't know her very well: there wasn't more to her life than just Sasuke.

…But that certainly didn't mean she shouldn't get over him.

* * *

><p>Three months rolled by since Kakashi last paid Sakura a visit. Since then, he had been piled with official work. The war may have been over, but that didn't mean his job was any less of a pain. If anything, becoming Hokage after the war and during peace times was one of the most idiotic decisions he had ever made.<p>

Day in and day out, Kakashi was driven to madness by his staff; official treaties, documents, death certificates and the like took up most if not his entire office desk. Ambassadors from near and far stalked in and out of his room like it was a downright public facility, and the fact that he had a whole counsel of high-strung village elders breathing down his neck, just waiting for him to make the slightest mistake just so that they can yammer at him about it, wasn't helping.

Kakashi sighed, eyeing the photograph of him and the old Team 7 he had placed next to the one of him and Team Minato. Back then, the most hectic problem he had was an unauthorized B-class mission; but, hey, who wouldn't trade office life for one good old life-endangering romp through the wilderness?

"Ohayou, Hokage-sama."

Kakashi blinked out of his brief daze and looked up to greet his new visitor; his predecessor, Tsunade, in all her glory.

"Ohayou, Tsunade-sama," he replied as he rose to his feet, extending an arm out to welcome her. "Sorry for the mess. Please, have a seat."

Tsunade eyed Kakashi's arm with furrowed brows before finally swatting it away with the back of her hand. "Cut the formalities, Hatake," she snapped. "You're starting to sound like an old man; and Kami knows if that's the case, I'm basically minutes from my grave."

Kakashi's response was to only smile faintly; not that it mattered or anything because his lips were hidden behind his mask, but it was the thought that counts. "What brings you to my office? The last I heard of you, you were meditating on the mountains."

"I was," replied Tsunade, crossing her arms under her large breasts. "But a little birdy told me that my presence here was needed – what is it I hear about Konoha's head medic nin resigning?"

"Aah, that. I've been meaning to talk about that," said Kakashi, one hand unconsciously reaching for an invisible itch at the top of his head.

"Then start talking," Tsunade snapped, dropping herself into the Hokage chair and reminding Kakashi of old times. "It's not like my protégé to leave an entire village of sick and ailing people behind. What did you tell her?"

"I had nothing to do with her—."

"Lies," Tsunade said, cutting him off. "You must have atleast authorized her retirement – you're the Hokage. Nothing gets passed you; or, atleast, nothing _should_. Besides, I doubt you'd leave your ex-team to fend for themselves completely; you must have kept tabs on them, somehow or rather."

Kakashi's lips pursed into an unreadable line; again, not that it made any effect or anything seeing that he had his lips hidden behind a mask, anyway. "You know me, Tsunade-sama, I'm not the most sensitive of people when it comes to relationships."

Tsunade rolled her eyes, lifting the photograph of Team 7 that was displayed proudly next to the photograph of his old team, and waving it in front of Kakashi's face. "Not sensitive about relationships, huh?" she repeated flatly. "Now quit messing with me and cut to the chase, Hatake. What do you know of Sakura's whereabouts?"

Kakashi finally sighed, relenting to his surprisingly acute predecessor. "To be honest, I don't know," he stated, just as Tsunade's cheeks turned red and her mouth opened up to protest. "She passed her resignation letter to me three months ago and I approved it. She was going through a hard time with Sasuke, so I thought I'd do her the favour. When I asked her where she wanted to go from there, she told me she just needed a break from everything; and I complied. I couldn't bear seeing her that unhappy."

Tsunade was uncharacteristically quiet for a couple of minutes as she allowed her successor to stare guiltily down at the floor in front of her. At last, she finally said, "You always had a soft-spot for her, Hatake."

Kakashi's grey eyes moved from the floor and up to the emotionless expression of the blonde lady who took his seat in the Hokage office.

"What Sakura needs is not to take a break from everything… but to_ break something_."

If Kakashi was confused before, he was certainly blown away now. Thankfully, Tsunade graced him with an elaboration: "Haruno Sakura is an emotional human being; one of the most emotional human beings I've ever met. When she first came to me for training all those year ago, I was skeptical – a young, naïve 12-year-old girl who devoted her existence to a boy she hardly knew long enough, coming to me for training? I wanted to shoo her away just for having the audacity to use that as the basis of her request.

Fortunately, however, I didn't. Instead of outright chasing her off, I gave in to her request – not because the sight of her crying touched my heart or anything like that as it probably would to _you,_ but because, well, it just interested me at the time to humour her.

I gave her a couple of tasks. Some might say the tasks were impossible. Shizune thought I was crazy to hand over some of my more advanced medical scrolls and order her to get them memorized and put them into application by the next day. But I was feeling especially entertained that evening – amused by that little girl and her red dress and unconditional 'love' – so I kept at it. And I'm glad that I did, too. If I had taken Shizune's advice and let her off easy from the get-go, I would have never paused to recognize her existence, and the world would have missed out on its most unexpected genius.

But, as I said to you before, Haruno Sakura is an emotional human being. Some may say that emotions are what make us as humans stronger, but as the years passed and my teachings became restricted to the hospital walls, Sakura became comfortable again. She believed that she had gotten what she wanted and had finally lucked out. The day she entered into a relationship with Uchiha Sasuke, she confined herself to a life of servitude; there was nothing more I could do for her then. Not when she had already made her decision to choose Sasuke over herself."

Kakashi was stunned; his predecessor's words forced him into complete silence. In all his years of knowing Tsunade, he had never really thought about her leadership methods; especially not so much as to how her decisions affected his ex-students.

Tsunade's lips quirked into a grim smile as she fixed her gaze back onto Kakashi. "Don't look at me like that," she muttered softly. "You know I have grown to love Sakura as my own, and I only want what is best for her. When she chose to be in a relationship with the Uchiha, I had my discrepancies, but I never prohibited her from doing what she wanted.

The world is tough; but it's tougher on women. You men can choose to have a life wielding weapons and chasing away bad guys without having to sacrifice wanting to come home to a devoted wife; but we women have to make a choice. I would have never become a Hokage and helped bring our villages together if I hadn't lost Dan; Mei would have never become as successful a Mizukage if she wasn't single; similarly, Sakura would never harvest her true potential if it hadn't been for this issue with Sasuke."

Kakashi's brows furrowed, and all at once he started to get angry. "What are you saying, Tsunade-sama?" he muttered slowly.

Tsunade's smile bore more of that amusement she had earlier referred to when messing with a much younger Haruno Sakura. Her honey-coloured eyes twinkled with the promise of mischief. "All I am saying is that, if my deductions are correct and Haruno Sakura really is a reflection of my past self, she isn't taking a break, Hatake. If anything, she's just about to begin."

* * *

><p>"Faster, faster!" a voice bellowed from somewhere in the darkness. "Once you have chosen to dedicate yourself to this course, there is no turning back! You either succeed through this a stronger, faster, more capable individual, or you die trying!"<p>

The threat of death loomed in the air like dead weight, drowning the tears and cries of agony that earlier filled the unlit hall and demotivating the dozen or so individuals who flanked her left and right sides.

For Haruno Sakura, however, the threat was meaningless; empty words carrying empty meaning that did nothing to either motivate her or strip her of her objectives.

Haruno Sakura was here on her own incentives; for her own drives. No amount of shaming or smack-talk or whipping or violence was about to bring her down; especially not when she no longer had any downs to give.

With the weights on her back and the chakra-seals inhibiting her enhanced strength, Haruno Sakura crawled through the sweat and mud of the dark torture chamber; reaching the finish line with sore muscles and a back full of scars.

"What is your name, child?" asked a voice once she finally pushed herself out of the mud and onto a pavement.

Accepting the bottle of water that was offered to her, Haruno Sakura swallowed the contents down in one swing, exhaling as she directed her gaze to meet the hard, expressionless eyes of a strange porcelain face.

"I do not have a name," she replied, grateful for the second bottle of water that was extended over to her as the face behind the porcelain mask nodded, satisfied with her answer.

* * *

><p>AN: I hope you guys liked this chapter. I tried very hard to get to the crux of the story, but it was difficult getting Sakura to transition from being mopey over her break-up with Sasuke to getting all riled up and kick-butt while staying true to her character.

Myself, I am a big Haruno Sakura fan, so I personally think she'd have to go through a whole lot to turn from becoming this Sasuke-obsessed person (romantic or otherwise, you have to admit, Sakura's character is designed to obsess over Sasuke) to, well, this individual whom I believe she has the potential of becoming. Not that there's any problem with the _real _Sasuke-obsessed Sakura or anything, but this story is centred around exploring the other side of her (the side that we will sadly never see).

I'm trying my best to stay as in-character as possible while still experimenting with the possibility of a KakaSaku relationship.

Please review and tell me what you think. :)


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